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Advice and opinions about my new video card

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DJQuanta

Member
Hello guys!

I just got an ATI built 9800 PRO on eBay, it's in "almost new" condition and it cost me $165. I've installed the card and it works great, ran Halflife 2 and Need for Speed Und 2 very well, and got 5900 points in 3DMark03 and 2300 in 3DMark05. I didn't noticed artifacts in any of the games or in 3Dmark.

Now then, I don't know if it's that my previous vid card(Gecube 9600 PRO) was extremely cool and I'm not used to this, or it's something with the new card, but this thing gets more hot than I expected. With my old card even under heavy load you could touch the HSF and it was only slightly warm, my case temp was 33° C (average) and my cpu temp around 57°C (I have a Chaintech VNF3-250 so the cpu reading is higher than the actual temp).

After installing the new card and putting it under load, case temp jump up even up to 43°C (playing NFS), CPU temp was 65°C but the CPU fan was working at least 1500 RPM higher than usual (with old card it never went over 4000 RPM, with the new one it was working at 5500 RPM. If you touch the HSF it's very hot (it could burn your finger if you keep your finger stick to it), and you can tell that the temp around the card (both sides) is hot. Beside the fan on the PSU I only have one additional case fan (installed on the back of the case above the video card, it's pulling hot air outside of it).

I ran the "Artifact Detect" feature of ATI Tool (.23 beta) at stock speeds (378/338) and after around 5 minutes it detects artifacts (although they are not noticeable on screen), as I mentioned before I didn't notice artifacts with games or both 3Dmark programs. I haven't experienced system hangs when playing games.

The only thing unusual with my new card is that the HSF it came with is not the exact model that most 9800 PROs come stocked with (the parallelepiped shaped one), in fact after checking some pics at newegg I noticed that the HSF installed on this card is exactly the same that comes with the "All-in-Wonder" 9800 pro, the one that has a small "cut-out" corner so the tuner can fit in.

Here is a pic of the card so you can check the HSF

Do 9800 PROs are normally this hot ? (noticeably hotter than a 9600 PRO), or it might be something wrong with the card ?. Could it be that the HSF is not properly installed (maybe don't have thermal compound or something like that).

Any comments, advice or opinions will be welcome.

Thanks....Quanta
 
You may want to try an ATi silencer. And yes, 9800pro is much hotter than 9600pro, which is really cool.
 
Originally posted by: McArra
You may want to try an ATi silencer. And yes, 9800pro is much hotter than 9600pro, which is really cool.
Click to expand...

And is it normal that I'm getting artifacts detected by ATItool at stock speed ?
 
no. the aiw cards are usually slower tahn the pro cards so im thinking that
a. the hsf isnt mounted right.
b. the aiw cooler isnt up ot the task of cooling the faster pro.
try reseating it. if that dosent work, get a new hsf. the artifacts will only get worse until it burns out and is unusable.
 
Originally posted by: mwmorph
no. the aiw cards are usually slower tahn the pro cards so im thinking that
a. the hsf isnt mounted right.
b. the aiw cooler isnt up ot the task of cooling the faster pro.
try reseating it. if that dosent work, get a new hsf. the artifacts will only get worse until it burns out and is unusable.
Click to expand...

Well then I guess I'll have to check if the HSF is mounted right.

BTW.... I think the AIW 9800 PRO comes clocked at the same speed as the regular 9800 PRO, so I believe that the AIW HSF should cool fine the regular 9800 PRO if it's mounted right, don't you think ?
 
the aiw 9800 is slower performer for some reason then. check benchies and see that the aiws are always slower than non aiws.
 
Don't waste your time reseating the current HSF, get an ATI Silencer. I mounted one on my 9800 Pro and it significantly cooled it down. Before replacing the HSF, I could hardly touch the back of the card directly behind the GPU. After installing the Silencer, the back of the GPU is only warm. The other benefit to the Silencer is that it exhausts the warm air out the back of the case instead of to the interior of the case, thus helping keep the interior of the case cool. Also use some Arctic Silver 5 when mounting the Silencer to ensure the best/most efficient thermal conducting properties.

Good luck!
 
You current cooling solution has been incorrectly mounted. You can most probably fix it by removing it, applying new thermal paste, and mount the heatsink really tight.

This forum is full of reports that people had to mount their alternate cooling solutions very tight, otherwise the temperature would shoot up. Yes, it is as tight that people are afraid to break the board in two.

I hate ATI but of course they are not as bad as building cards with artifacts at stock clockspeed.

But as I said, you problem is most likely in the mounting, not the product, of your heatsink/fan.
 
Are there any cheaper alternatives for aftermarket cooling solutions for the 9800 PRO...... $35 for the ATI Silencer plus $10 for Artic Silver 5...... I might as well sell my card and get a 6600 GT. Just wondering.

I was checking the forums of ATI Tool (and other OCing forums) and there are reports of ATI Tool reporting artifacts at stock speed when using Windows XP SP2, anyone has experienced this ?

BTW.... yesterday nite I leave the artifact scanning on for 15 minutes and it didn't detect anything.....so it seems it doesn't happens everytime.
 
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